Strong and Moving!

Did you people see the same film I saw?

Very interesting film. Was caught on the premise when seeing the trailer but unsure as to what the outcome would be for the showing. As it turns out, it was a very good film.

It’s fine. It's literally the definition of a fine movie. You’ve seen it before, you know every beat and outcome before the characters even do. Only question is how much escapism you’re looking for.

Despite the five favorable commentaries submitted to this forum, "The Yellow Canary", the 1963 film that showed up on cable recently, it is not a good film. Evidently, it is a piece of nostalgia to those viewers that rated it so highly.It is surprising that someone of the stature of Rod Serling could produce such paper thin premise as the one used in the narrative. It is too obvious who the kidnapper is from the start, so it comes as a no-brainer how this person could fool Andy Paxton, the man at the center of the story, as well as the police that are called to help solve the case.The film shows a bland Pat Boone trying a dramatic role. Mr. Boone was a singer that had his popularity in the late 1950s, and early 1960s. As an actor, he was wise not to leave his daytime job. The direction of Buzz Kulik, a man that worked extensively on television, does not do anything out of the ordinary to stage the film in a different fashion that might have made a better movie. Barbara Eden's Lissa does not make much sense either. Steve Forrest is about the one that fares best. Others in supporting roles include the great Jesse White, Jack Klugman, and Harold Gould.The best thing is the crisp black and white photography by Floyd Crosby of the Los Angeles of that era. The jazzy musical score is by Kenyon Hopkins.

Pat Boone plays a popular male crooner (with the silly, generic name of Andy Paxton) who is callous to his estranged wife and indifferent to their baby boy, but who jumps into action once the infant is kidnapped for a ransom of 200 G's. Whether he's resisting police lieutenant Jack Klugman's help or comforting stressed spouse Barbara Eden, real-life vocalist Boone turns in a surprisingly strong performance; he handles the s.o.b. stuff at the beginning quite well, and his on-stage numbers are flawlessly rendered. Klugman and Eden are also solid, which is a good thing because the midsection of this melodrama is definitely not. Rod Serling, adapting Whit Masterson's novel "Evil Come, Evil Go", writes some crisp, crackling dialogue--but the trouble is, there's too much of it. Serling forgets that a heated crime scenario such as this has to flow with a little action. Things get bogged down once Boone suspects one of his entourage of the kidnapping, doing his own detective work in-between bouts of the bottle. When the tense climax finally arrives and one is filled with questions pertaining to motive...Serling suddenly clams up! The finale is satisfying only on the most basic of levels, with point and purpose left strangely unresolved. ** from ****

Though it has been well over 40 years since I saw "The Yellow Canary," my recollection is that it was a very good movie. What I specifically remember is a stand out performance by Pat Boone. So much so, I did not remember Barbara Eden's part in it. Boone spent most of his movie career in singing roles (e.g, State Fair) and/or more-or-less simplistic teen movies (e.g., "April Love," "Bernadine"). In this film, however, he provided a more than passable effort as a serious actor. It seems unfortunate he did not pursue more such roles, though he may have suffered from management that stifled his potential, much like happened to Elvis and Colonel Tom Parker's control of his career. It would be interesting to see the film today, and find out if the years have enhanced my memory or if, in fact, it's as good as I remember.

I saw this movie when I was just 13 years old, and it scared me to death. I remember that the movie theater had trouble opening the curtain all the way at the beginning of the movie, which only made the whole experience even more bizarre, and it was one of the opening scenes that really freaked me out. I can still see it in my mind today, some 40 years later. From what I remember, I would compare it to "Cape Fear" and "Wait Until Dark" for comparable chills. I suspect that it would play pretty innocently these days, but I would love to see it again just to see how much of what I remember was really there. Anybody have any leads on where to find this, contact me at wsjo69@yahoo.com.